This qualitative case study seeks to uncover the groundwork that was laid which enabled one school district to implement a major change initiative, the implementation of 1:1 technology, in a significantly short period of time. Given the slow nature of change in education, this initiative was successfully executed in four months from the time…

With Massachusetts' school closure extending until the end of the 2019-20 academic year, Pioneer Institute urges that Massachusetts schools offer meaningful online and virtual learning programs, doing everything possible to eliminate problematic inconsistencies across Bay State school districts. Pioneer further urges Massachusetts to develop and…

This article presents how the District of Columbia's (DC's) state board has designed and coordinated a collaborative process to revise social studies standards that will ideally facilitate learning the long, interconnected arcs of history, economics, politics, and geography that run through the American past, helping students make connections…

This book is part memoir and part history, sharing the story of what is possible when like-minded educators work together to address radical change. The narrative, written by one who lived it, shares the journey of the district, the experts who helped guide them and the practical applications that are in place to support the concept of…

When moving a district to a 1:1 computing environment, a great deal of planning is necessary to ensure the program's success. Implementing this level of change requires those plans to simultaneously look at the big picture of how these devices affect instruction while also dealing with the minute details of supporting such an endeavor. With the…

This article examines the politics of curriculum design and evaluation in school settings globally. It examines the role of ideology and dominant meta-narratives of standards and academic achievement culture and its impact on education policy, curriculum design and implementation. The article discusses major models of curriculum design and their…

The work of teachers has historically been highly controlled, but one area teachers have been granted considerable autonomy is in instruction and planning. Teacher autonomy is a complex concept with important implications for both the quality of instruction and teacher persistence in the field. The rise of charter management organizations (CMOs)…

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused interruptions to the K-12 US school landscape since spring 2020. Methods: In summer 2020, we completed a pilot study utilizing interviews (n = 13) with school staff (ie, nurses, educators) from across the United States. We aimed to understand the status of school operation and re-entry plans after the…

Despite the perceived rarity of mid-semester faculty changes, there is a shortage of literature to guide administrators and faculty on best practices for handing the dilemmas associated with mid-semester faculty changes. This is particularly concerning given the uncertainty of situations like the COVID-19 global pandemic and recent research that…

Although the role of leadership in school improvement is widely recognized, there is less understanding of what leaders can do to support (and mitigate barriers to) the implementation of mandated educational change. This systematic literature review analyzed findings from 191 relevant primary studies published between 2000 and 2020 and identified…

"Through redesign you have the opportunity do whatever you choose to do to make your school reflect the needs and desires of your community. I believe our public-school teachers can do the great things we keep hearing private and charter schools do if we would just let them." Randy Watson, Kansas Deputy Commissioner of Education, said…

This article summarizes lessons and examples from a learning community of leaders from 78 large and medium school districts across the U.S. that has been meeting monthly throughout the pandemic, that other educators might apply to their work as they continue to navigate difficult and ambiguous times. The learning community members have identified…

Principals of low-performing schools in northern New Mexico lack adequate professional development to improve student outcomes. Exploration of experiences in the professional development program, Principals Pursuing Excellence, studied the lived phenomena of 12 rural northeastern turnaround school leaders through the conceptual framework of…

After years of education system reforms that, at best, tinker at the system's edges, generations of families and students remain systemically marginalized, underserved, underprepared, and undereducated. COVID-19 has only made starker and more urgent the unfinished work of ensuring that all students receive an excellent education. It is time to do…

The "Framework for K-12 Science Education" and the Next Generation Science Standards have called on teachers to shift from having students "learn about" science topics to having students engage in a process of "figuring out" how and why natural phenomena occur. These reform documents push teachers away from a…